Revelers from Grande Rio Samba School perform during the night of the Carnival parade at the Sambadrome, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 12, 2024. (Photo by Tita Barros/Reuters)

A member of the Unidos do Viradouro samba school performs during the last night of the Carnival parade at the Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 13, 2024. (Photo by Pablo Porciuncula/AFP Photo)

Axed Love Island stars Alima, Emily and Megan all went braless in very daring outfits last night, after appearing on Aftersun in London on July 21, 2025. (Photo by James Curley/The Sun)

American models Kendall Jenner, Lori Harvey, and Hailey Bieber have a girls' night out at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica on June 13, 2023. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

The dramatic moment lightning strikes the sea at Portland in Dorset in southwest England on October 24, 2022. Thundery weather and a dramatic Lightning storm pictured last night at Portland Bill. (Photo by CharlotteChapman/Bournemouth News)

Revellers cool themselves in the Danube River during the Sziget music festival on an island in Budapest, Hungary August 12, 2015. The event is one of the biggest cultural events of Europe, offering art exhibitions, theatrical and circus performances and music concerts. Almost 200 performers from 47 countries will entertain the hundreds of thousands of visitors from 11 to 18 August. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

A girl plays with colourful papers at the 23rd Sziget (Island) Festival on Shipyard Island in Budapest, Hungary, 13 August 2015. The festival is one of the biggest cultural events of Europe, offering art exhibitions, theatrical and circus performances and music concerts. Almost 200 performers from 47 countries will entertain the hundreds of thousands of visitors from 11 to 18 August. (Photo by Balazs Mohai/EPA)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.